Deep Southern, Diversified & Re-Imagined

“Welcome to Eclectic”

Name changes can be tricky—but here goes. I know that people can get confused, especially when a big company changes from one nonsensical name like Knology to another like WOW! (No one gets confused by names like Bill’s Hardware or Burger King, but naming a blog isn’t that simple.) Luckily I’m not a company, I don’t have any customers per se, I don’t have to change any letterhead, and I don’t send bills or draft anyone’s checking account, so there’s no danger of anybody worrying about this very much.

I’m changing the name of this blog from Pack Mule for the New School, a phrase that came from a poem I wrote back in 2004, to Welcome to Eclectic, which comes from a big sign that I pass on Alabama Highway 170 in Elmore County near Lake Martin. Welcome to Eclectic seems like a hell of a lot better title for what I’ve been doing all along. I do write about current social-justice issues, Southern culture, education, and Alabama politics, but also about a lot of other things, too, like obscure history, old movies, and memories from my Generation X upbringing. Pack Mule for the New School has a good ring to it, but let’s be honest: I’m writing – both in this blog and in my other writing work – about the myriad subjects that fall under the subtitle, which will remain the same: Deep Southern, Diversified & Re-Imagined.